Noodles and Kinsey

 

          Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a holiday to remember and be thankful for our many blessings. I am looking forward to spending time with family, enjoying good food and making new memories.

Today I made some memories with one of my granddaughters, Kinsey.  Her mom had to work and her daddy and brother were headed south for some Thanksgiving hunting time. We started our morning doing something she will be the 6^th generation in the Taylor family (my husband, Mike’s family) to do, making noodles from scratch, a Thanksgiving tradition.  Many years ago I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with Granny, (Mike’s grandmother, Myrtle Taylor) and she shared with me her recipe and technique for hand made noodles.

As Kinsey broke her one egg into a bowl, she told me not to worry if a few shells fell in because she could pick them out, I remembered the story Granny had shared with me all those years ago. I had mentioned to Granny that on my first attempt at noodles mine were discolored, yellowish, not at all white like Granny’s.  She said that when her mother taught her they used fresh eggs and that’s what colored my noodles, my husband, Mike’s, fresh eggs. Granny said that if fresh eggs weren’t available they would often add yellow food coloring to tint them and make them looker richer. I wanted my noodles to look just like Granny’s, they were indeed the most delicious dish of Thanksgiving Day.

Kinsey stirred her salt into the egg and then we began adding flour, half a cup at a time until she had a dough like consistency.  Then she rolled her dough as flat as she could, when she wasn’t watching I rolled hers even flatter.  Kinsey’s noodles were ready to dry, it usually takes one or two hours before they are ready to cut, turning them once or twice. As Kinsey stirred and hopefully learned I was making a family size recipe, starting with 5 eggs.  Later I rolled the large flat dough then cut them as narrow as possible with a very sharp knife on a cutting board. I let them dry awhile longer before storing them in a sealed bag in the freezer.

Our day consisted of many activities, several games of Sorry, hair and makeup, a mathematics lesson, eating lunch out, visiting Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum, chocolate chunk cheesecake ice cream, and horseback riding with her Granddad.  I really want Kinsey to remember this day but looking back I may have given noodle making too much competition.

Kinsey never knew two of her “great” grandmothers in this six generation story but she loved and adored her third generation great grandmother, Grandma JoAnn, I am the 4^th  generation (though by marriage) in the noodle tradition, Courtney (Kinsey’s mother) is the 5^th and now Kinsey is the 6^th.  I hope Kinsey will teach her daughter some day.   Happy Thanksgiving, go make a memory with someone you love.

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